Gates to Equinox
by Micromyni
Summary: Yukari, a thief with no past, is betrayed by her comrades and sent on a wild journey across the 5 Shinobi nations with only her wits. Stowing away on a hijacked trading ship, she ends up in Suna weak and injured...and in the custody of the Kazekage. AR
1. The Beginning

**Twilight: Oh my Kami, I am so sorry! Someone recently convinced me that my story needed major revamping…and my character was a Sue…and I sucked…and well…SORRY!**

**Kage: You better be, you lazy ass.**

**Twilight: Shut up, Fluffy. Oh, let me introduce my muse, here to help with commentary and disclaimer, Kage!**

**Kage: …Yo.**

**Twilight: Is that all you have to say?!**

**Kage: Yep. Pretty much.**

**Twilight: …I like your story version better…**

**Kage: Deal.**

**Twilight: Just do the damn disclaimer so we can get started.**

**Kage: Fine. Dragon of Twilight doesn't own Naruto. If she did, you'd see the guys shirtless a lot more and Matsuri would be dead.**

**Twilight: Damn straight! By the way, PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Beginning

* * *

Shadows flickered and danced in the night, twisting in a wild dance as the flames swelled, feeding greedily on _ki_-enriched leaves and branches, sending black smoke billowing above the mountains of the valley.

The beautiful valley where an unknown village had stayed hidden for so long was in ruins, decimated from an invasion that had taken place only hours before. The small houses carved directly into the giant trees that had been raised on earth _ki_ from tiny seedlings had been blown apart by explosive tags, each family's belongings scattered everywhere. A huge, sparkling crystal set in the middle of a pond had been blasted to pieces, the pond dyed red with the blood of a woman who had been injured, fallen in, and drowned. Fire had been set to the great tree in the very center of the village; it's base completely charred and the flames only now working it's way up the enormous oak tree, where the village symbol hung: the paw print of a wolf.

And even worse than the total destruction of the village, was the inhabitant's fate themselves. Bodies of dark-skinned men, elderly women, and children late into their teens lay strewn about in a half hazard fashion. Some were crushed into their own miniature craters, creating hot pools of blood. Others looked as if they were brutally ripped apart, signifying a terrible battle of brute power. Other, paler-skinned bodies were likewise scattered, but the casualties were far less then the people of the village. The small children and young women were captured and led out of the village.

The full moon hanging above the battlefield was not graced with even one howling call, a far cry from the usual symphony of howls it was used to.

A quick figure flickered briefly into view on top of a rock overlooking the decimated village, where it paused in a crouch, shadowed against the flames from the burning tree. From underneath a black cloth cap, tears streaked from glowing green eyes in sparkling trails down an ash-streaked, dark-skinned face as she looked upon the burning remains of what used to be a village.

Her dark outfit blurred into the silent night as she silently slipped away, a large bundle wrapped in charred blankets cradled in her arms. Running through the rocky pass that served as the only exit out of the valley, the woman gently peeled the blankets back, exposing the soot-coated face of a twelve-year old girl as the woman exited the valley to run along a well-used dirt road.

The girl was unconscious, her breathing forced and rasping as she breathed through flame-scorched lungs. The cool air rushing past her dark-skinned face seemed to rouse her for an instant, and a pathetic, miserable cry found it's way out of her lips as her eyes fluttered open; revealing bright golden eyes, then shut again with a miserable moan as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

The woman carrying her let out a sad sigh and glanced around for a suitable resting stop. Spying a large willow tree, she ran up the trunk to the thick, wide branch that grew conveniently close to a large hollow in the tree. Crouching on the branch and shifting the girl carefully to her other arm, the woman carefully inserted her hand into the hollow, making sure it wasn't too small.

Luckily, the hollow was large enough for both the girl and the blankets she was wrapped in, and she gently slipped the girl inside, tucking a large envelope down into the blankets with her.

"Mikomi-nee-chan…" A whispering, hoarse voice made the woman—Mikomi—look up, her eyes flickering to the girl's face and locking eyes with her. The young girl's eyes were open, the molten gold color glassed over with shock and grief.

"They're all gone, Mikomi…Makoto-sensei…Daichi-tousan …Kiyoshi-itoko **(1)**…gone. I saw sensei fighting…he fell…he's gone. They were after Kiyoshi …Daichi was fighting, too…I couldn't do anything…I…"

Mikomi's emerald eyes hardened as the girl's weak babbling started to take on a hysterical note, and she began thrashing in her blankets; the traumatic memories of what had happened in the past few hours threatening to send the fragile little girl into hysteria.

"Yukari…" She said softly, trying to snap her young friend out of it. Yukari's eyes remained glassy and her babbling rose in volume.

"Yukari."

No change.

"Yukari!" Mikomi snapped, using the stern tone Yukari heard so often from her sensei. Yukari stopped talking abruptly and her eyes focused suddenly on Mikomi. Startled, she stopped moving.

"Yukari, you need to stay in this tree until the traveling caravan comes by as usual. Get on the caravan. Give the envelope to the leader. Do you understand?" Mikomi snapped authoritatively. Yukari's eyes sharpened, grief briefly forgotten in defiance of authority.

_As always_, Mikomi allowed fondly, although her stern outward expression didn't change.

"What about you, Mikomi? What will you do? I'm not going anywhere without you!" Yukari snapped back angrily.

Mikomi abruptly switched tack. "You have to." She said in a soft voice, resting a gentle, large hand on Yukari's soot-dusted forehead, sweeping a few strands of dark hair away from her eyes and leaving her palm on Yukari's forehead.

Yukari's angry expression dissolved, tears welling up in her wide gold eyes. But Mikomi pressed on relentlessly.

"You have to forget about me altogether. Forget your status, forget your clan, forget your past, forget everything until the time is right."

"I can't! I won't!" She cried tearfully yet defiantly, fighting to get one of her hands free so that she could reach out to put her hand on Mikomi's.

"Then I'll make you, for your own good." Mikomi said decisively; her green eyes hard and the hand on Yukari's head tensing. Yukari's eyes grew confused. Without another word, Mikomi poured her _ki_ into Yukari's energy pathways, making them sear with pain.

_Surikesu Omoide no Jutsu. _**(2)**

Learning _jutsu_ instead of _ki_ techniques had been a risky decision on Mikomi's part, not knowing whether her _ki_ was close enough to _chakra_ to use in _jutsu_. _Ninjutsu_ was unknown in the land of Ametsuchi, as well of the different uses of _chakra_. Elemental _ki_ was the substitute for _Ninjutsu_, while _Genjutsu_ and medical _jutsu_ was unknown.

Yukari stiffened rigidly, her eyes rolling back into her head at the unexpected assault on her energy pathways. Mikomi's grip tightened, squeezing Yukari's skin so hard she knew it would bruise. Still, the girl attempted fight off the unfamiliar _jutsu_, her eyes rolling to focus on Mikomi's stony face, her golden eyes confused and betrayed as she grit her teeth and attempted to force out Mikomi's jounin-level _chakra_ with her own weak store of _ki_.

Still, despite the effort, Yukari was losing. The burning sensation dulled. A lethargic feeling was coming over her, like sleep medicine spreading through her body. Her eyes roved for a moment, drunk from the unfamiliar excess energy that was Mikomi's _chakra_. She was weakening, mind teetering between awareness and unintelligence. Still, she managed to choke out a childish complaint.

"I-It's not…fair…!"

Mikomi paused. "What?"

Yukari pushed out her response with as much venom she could muster in her half-unconscious state. "Y-you can't do…this…t-to me."

"On the contrary." Mikomi said quietly, no emotion at all in her tone. "All I need to do is focus a little of my _chakra_, overpower your own network, and use it to replace the information in your head with blank spaces."

"Y-you…can't d-do t-that…with _ki_…" Yukari breathed weakly as her eyes pinwheeled a little. Mikomi smiled emptily and without humor.

"Not with _ki_, but I can _chakra_. I'm doing this for your own survival."

Yukari didn't understand what _chakra_ was, but she got the gist of what Mikomi meant; she was going to wipe her memory whether Yukari liked it or not.

"H-how am I going to survive, if you wipe out all knowledge of my training?!" Yukari screamed, finally clearing her thoughts enough to gather some semblance of strength. Unfortunately, it cost her dearly; Yukari slipped into unconsciousness.

Mikomi blinked calmly and finished the _jutsu_, rocking back on her heels and studying Yukari's sleeping face intently. She'd taken Yukari's last…request…into account, only wiping the memories of her village and what she had done to make her forget. To Yukari, she would only remember Makoto training her, and not in the place she trained. To satisfy her curiosity, Mikomi implanted some memories, indicating that Yukari trained and studied with Makoto all her life in a small dojo, which was already partly true.

Of this night, Yukari would only remember the instructions Mikomi put into her head.

Learn new skills.

Never stay too long in only one place.

Strengthen her _ki_.

Grow strong.

"Hide in the safety of the shadows where the world can't find you, and wait for the Call of the Guardians. Goodbye…imouto."

* * *

_6 Years Later_

* * *

"No! I'd rather feed the onbaa! **(3)**"

"You're the only one who can do it!"

"I said no, Keiji! Get another one of your lackeys to steal it!"

'Keiji' slammed his huge, work-swollen hands powerfully down on his desk and stood on, leaning menacingly forward. Over six feet tall and with muscles like a bodybuilder; Miyagi Keiji was not someone to piss off.

His coal black hair was ruffled forward until his bangs touched his nose, his eyes were piercing cobalt and his features were clean-shaven and ruggedly handsome. His skin was also the same dark color that was common to the people of **Ametsuchi**.

This giant of a man glared at the insolent young women in front of him that didn't even flinch at the loud bang the desk gave as protest to the abuse, her arms crossed firmly under her breasts.

"Damn it, Yukari! You do this every time I give you an assignment! And it's Miyagi-sama to you!"

Yukari didn't top 5' 5", but she stood unafraid against the anger of her boss. Her layered hair was shaggy and it went to just below her shoulder blades, the color a red so dark it was almost black. A large lock of hair hung right between her wide golden eyes, the end resting on the left side of her nose.

Her skin was dark and she had gained quite a few more scars and muscles since she had been 'found' by this traveling band of thieves that worked as a circus in its spare time. Keiji was the leader of this band, and he was the one who assigned missions, apprentices to masters, and decided where to go. It had also been his decision to take Yukari in.

It took years to get the caravan to trust her, with her constant and blatant disrespect of authority, but she put up with the punishment and continued to be discourteous, so eventually her superiors just gave up.

Around Keiji's Caravans she was known as 'The Phantom' thanks to her shadow-style powers in her thief jobs. Her job in regular circus life was a trick rider, standing upright on a horse while the horse was galloping.

Eventually, she'd been recognized as the best at stealth, infiltration, and retrieval out of all the thieves there, thanks to her shinobi background. But her physical strength was not the best. She used the grappling and throwing her old sensei had taught her, but she rarely ever went at it fist-to-fist.

She had flatly refused to teach her unique_ ki_ skills to anyone who asked, even the superiors, thus keeping one step ahead of them. Which is why Keiji, the Boss of the entire circus, hated her so much, but was forced to rely on her skills.

"Keiji, I've never called you that before, and I never will." Yukari shot back, totally unimpressed by the two hundred and eighty pounds of muscle behind the poor, abused desk. "And if you keep doing that your desk is going to break. I don't want to fix it again. And I do this every time you give me an assignment is because you always want me to _steal_ something."

Keiji sat back down heavily, placing his elbow on the table and massaging the bridge of his nose, avoiding looking at the object of his ire as if that if he didn't look at her, she'd disappear.

"Just, please, listen to me." Keiji finally caved in and used the 'p' word.

Yukari instantly grinned and sat in the chair in front of his desk, putting her elbows on the desk and resting her chin on her cupped hands, waiting.

"Yes, I do need you to steal something. A scroll. It shouldn't be too hard. Just a quick: get in, get the scroll, and get out."

"Well, if I have to steal, might as well be a quick one." Yukari blinked slowly, analyzing her instructions as she always did, looking for loopholes or things that should be mentioned. "Where is the scroll and what's in it?"

Keiji's eyes narrowed a bit as he grinned. Yukari narrowed her own eyes; she didn't like that smile, it was greedy and there was a hint of triumph that made her very wary.

"The scroll is in the very village where we found you, which is conveniently nearby. A few bandits have set up a cozy little settlement there, and I'd hate for some of my more…straightforward thieves to rip it apart in search for one measly scroll. As for the contents…let's just say it will be interesting to you."

The grin got wider.

"So what do you say, _Ookami-san_?"

"…"

* * *

**THIS IS IN A DIFFERENT LAND, FAR ACROSS THE SEA FROM THE SHINOBI NATIONS, CALLED AMETSUCHI. THESE PEOPLE ARE DARK-SKINNED AND USE _KI_ INSTEAD OF _CHAKRA_.**

**(1) I heard that this was the word for cousin, so I used it.**

**(2) Memory Erase Jutsu**

**(3) Naruto had one clinging to his back, a native Fire Country animal and one kind of animal in the circus menagerie.**

* * *


	2. The Mission

**Kage: Yo…again.**

**Twilight: Sorry once again…If anyone hasn't noticed, I redid the first chapter!**

**Kage: Sorry and a redo doesn't cut it, baka onna. You kept the readers waiting and on their toes for almost a year.**

**Twilight: Shut up, fleabag.**

**Kage: Make me, ningen. **

**Twilight: Fuck you, bastard.**

**Kage: …Meh…I'm bored with calling you names.**

**Twilight: VICTORY IS MINE!**

**Kage: Whatever.**

**Twilight: Geez, you're worse than Shikamaru. Do the disclaimer!**

**Kage: Yeah, yeah, don't get your tail in a knot. Dragon of Twilight does not own Naruto…thank Kami.**

**Twilight: WOOT, WOOT!**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Mission

* * *

"Fuuuuuuck…"

Yukari scampered up a tree like a squirrel, narrowly avoiding the barrage of thin needles aimed with pinpoint accuracy and murderous intent at her vital points. They thudded loudly into the bark as she aimed for a particularly thickly leaved branch that seemed to offer some cover.

"Damn you, Keiji! 'A few bandits' my ass! Why, why did I let myself get sucked into this stupid missiOOON?!" Yukari was cut off mid-rant by a kunai whizzing by an inch from her nose just before she dove into her temporary hiding place.

_You son of a bitch, Keiji!_ She thought viciously as she glared at the dark shadows flitting around the branches of the other trees. _'Small settlement of bandits.' Pft! Small settlement is right! It's a camp full of elite shinobi, ANBU, I think! They're probably from across the sea, from Kirigakure. They probably heard of the destroyed village and wanted to get the secrets from the bodies that were there!_

It made sense. The bodies were years old, and the smell of rotting flesh had long been swept away by the wind, but someone would eventually informed _Kirigakure_ about a seeming massacre of a hidden warrior village due to the fact that Ametsuchi traded regularly with the Land of Water, sharing news. It was how Yukari knew that the Land of Waves finished the Great Naruto Bridge, (why the hell they would name a bridge 'fishcake' she had no idea) that the Akatsuki had kidnapped Sunagakure's Kazekage for his _bijuu_, the Ichibi, and that Konohagakure's candidate for the Rokudaime Hokage was the _jinchuuriki_ for the great Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Yukari carefully plucked a senbon out from the bark and slid it into her pocket, moving as smoothly as possible to hopefully draw less attention to her location. She knew it wouldn't be very hard to find her.

She had learned how to throw senbon, kunai, and make explosive tags from the scroll library of Keiji's Caravans, but she rarely used them on her missions, and as a consequence; didn't have a weapons pouch. She almost never had to deal with shinobi, only arrogant bandits and haughty daimyo samurai guards.

But now she was stuck with _Kiri_ ANBU on her ass, which were famous for their ruthlessness and efficiency.

Yukari had slipped into their camp undetected by the few keeping watch, gotten the scroll, but had gotten caught when she had tripped a wire trap that sent kunai flying at her. She dodged them, but had also attracted the attention of the night watch. She'd managed to incapacitate all but one that was chasing her using a combination of really nasty thief tricks and paralysis smoke bombs.

It was extremely difficult, though; these were elites. And they were using techniques that she'd never seen before; switching their bodies with objects, teleporting with lightning speed, running up trees without using their hands, and leaping up to inhumanly high hights. They all also seemed to have more than one elemental _ki_! One had shot a fireball at her, and then tried to raise a stone wall in front of her right after. Even despite their strange abilities, she'd managed to lose all but one.

Unfortunately, the one on her tail seemed to have a particularly vicious streak, repeatedly allowing Yukari to find hiding places and forcing her out of them with a well-aimed kunai or senbon. She'd already gained a multitude of shallow slashes and painful punctures that weren't lethal, but extremely painful and irritating. And what was worse was the fact that he wouldn't get close enough for her to see him.

_I am screeeewwwed._ Yukari whined ineffectually in her head as she watched the flitting shadow come closer. _If only I could get a clear view of him…_

Unexpectedly, her chance came.

"You might as well come out of that tree and return the scroll, thief. Its pointless hiding."

The ANBU chasing her finally came to a stop directly below her; in the typical ANBU gear with a light jumpsuit and chest armor, complete with a sword that Yukari was sure was sharp enough to cleave her leg off. His white porcelain mask was decorated with blue swirls that made it look like a panther. The four wavy lines that served as the symbol for the Mist Village were carved into the forehead, and he wore a black cloak with a hood that closely resembled her own.

She could _feel_ the arrogance practically _oozing_ off of this guy.

Thus, his ego badly needed to be deflated.

"Oh, Why would I want to come out? It has a wonderful view up here." Yukari said flippantly, noting with wary delight as his shoulders stiffened angrily. This guy obviously was a great pursuit shinobi, but he had a loose hold on his emotions, despite being in the ANBU.

She could work with that.

_This will work nicely..._

"I'll make sure you die slowly when you get down." He hissed lowly, a gloved hand reaching up to grasp the hilt of his sword that jutted over his right shoulder. Yukari grinned down at him in a predatory fashion.

_Get it moving…_

"You're pretty moronic for an elite shinobi. That's even less a reason to come down, Kitty. I'm very fond of breathing, you see?"

Ten shuriken embedded themselves in the branch with loud 'chunck' sounds where she would have been, had she not quickly dropped down to a lower branch. She glanced up at the embedded projectiles from her safe position before looking disappointedly down at the seething hunter.

_Almost there…need to buy a bit more time…_

"Now, now. No need to get hasty and injure the poor, innocent tree. What did it ever do to you?"

Yukari could imagine the guy's eye twitching.

_Almost…_

"Return the scroll or you die where you stand!"

_A little closer…_

"I happen to be crouching, kitty."

_Now!_

"You die, now!" The ANBU roared, leaping forward with more than twice Yukari's normal speed, cleaving the smirking figure in the tree in two, smirking as her expression faded from confidence to shock—

—only for the clone to dissolve into black wisps of shadow, and for him to be unceremoniously knocked out by means of a neat chop to the neck by the real Yukari. She glanced expressionlessly down at his unconscious figure as he toppled to the ground—and her face split ito a wide, smug grin.

"Take that, bitch."

* * *

_**Later: far, far away from the ANBU camp…**_

* * *

Yukari slowly eased her poor, abused body into a sitting position to examine her wounds, and maybe later, the scroll.

Looking over her clothes, she gave an involuntary grimace; her hooded cloak was almost unusable because it was shredded so badly along the back, arms, and sides from where the various projectiles that had been hurled at her had nicked her. The edges of the cuts were soaked in blood from the long, shallow slices the kunai had carved into her skin. They didn't need much attention; just a quick slather of antibiotic cream did the job.

Her muscles ached horribly from running for twenty hours straight before sinking, exhausted, to the churned-up dirt where the caravans had pulled out. Night had fallen, and when she had gotten to where the caravans had been waiting, she was greeted with an empty road and wheel tracks going west, toward the coast.

The bastard had left her behind!

Yukari's fists clenched as she remembered the conclusion she came to.

Keiji knew about the Kiri hunters. He knew he was basically sending her on a suicide mission, from his point of view anyway. That's why he had tried so hard to get her to accept the mission, why he had looked so triumphant when she considered it. He had thought that she would be killed. Keiji had underestimated her.

Blood began dripping from the tiny half-moon cuts her fingernails left in her palms as her nails broke her skin. She hastily loosened her fists, shaking her hands to get she sting out. Yukari blinked at the dripping cuts before letting out a small sigh and cleaning the new wounds, licking away the blood. She welcomed the familiar coppery taste.

Yukari had no love for her profession as a thief or the caravans who taught her how to be one, but the fact that she was alone and had no home once again was hard for her to accept. But Yukari knew she was older, stronger. She would survive.

Yukari sighed and stripped off her cloak and shirt, leaving her in only the bandaging she used to bind her chest.

Carefully fishing around in one of the many pockets of her pants, Yukari pulled out a needle and a spool of simple black silk, casually stolen from a craft store, and began to sew up her simple black cloak for what felt like the thousandth time. She ignored the bloodstains; it wasn't like they could easily be seen.

Sewing helped clear her mind, and she began planning.

_Ok…I don't have a lot of supplies, only a loaf of stale bread and a canteen that's about half-full. I've got the shuriken Kitty threw at me and that senbon, so weapons is a no…I also need a map, but I'll just follow the road until I get to a town and go from there. Hmm…I'll travel around for a while. I've always wanted to go to Konoha…So, it's decided. I'll sleep tonight near the road, follow the road in the morning, get a map, and stow away on a boat to the Water Count—_

"Itai!" Yukari yelped as she pricked her finger with the needle. She quickly stuck her index finger in her mouth and glared malevolently at the needle, like it was the needle's fault her finger stung.

With her finger still in her mouth, Yukari reached into another pocket and pulled out the scroll to get a good look at what she went through to get. She didn't get a chance to look at it when she first grabbed it, so it was a complete shock to see how different it looked from normal scrolls.

For one, it was smaller. It was less than a fourth the size of a regular scroll, barely big enough to fit in the palm of her hand (which a actually very large for a female of seventeen) and it was black. There was no writing, no blank spot at all for writing a name; it was solid black. The edge was rimmed with silver, but other than that it looked totally plain.

Deep in her inspection of the scroll, Yukari didn't notice that she had taken her pricked finger out of her mouth and was using the injured finger to assist her other hand in holding the scroll open.

The warm wetness of blood running down Yukari's finger briefly distracted her, and she carefully shifted her finger and watched in a sort of quiet fascination as the blood rolled down her finger, leaving a crimson streak.

Without letting go of the scroll, she tilted her finger downward, so the blood flowed back down her finger, dripped off her fingertip—

—and directly onto the scroll.

Her world exploded.

* * *

**Hehehe...I am evil.**

* * *


	3. The Awakening

**Twilight: Too…tired…to argue…with Kage…today…**

**Kage: Oh, thank KAMI!**

**Twilight: Just do the damn disclaimer before I have you fixed…**

**Kage: She doesn't own anything except Yukari and unfortunately, me.**

* * *

Chapter 3: The Awakening

* * *

Pain.

Yukari was used to pain; it was part of daily life.

Yet, she had never felt it to this extent.

The scroll had dissolved into the same black mist that accompanied her shadow type _ki_ the very instant her blood had dripped onto the pitch-black paper, and streamed instantly, painfully, into her mouth, ears, and nose.

The silent torture went straight through Yukari's body, her brain processing it, neurons working overtime as it overloaded her system with agony. It felt like her whole body was being remade from the inside out. The fragile body that her soul inhabited was being painfully altered, and her mind remained alive and extremely alert of anything and everything happening around her.

Her body thrashed wildly, throbbing and suffering flowing through her as Yukari's inner organs modified themselves by some inner power, her abdomen feeling like she had swallowed an explosive tag. Her body involuntarily contracted into a tight ball, eyes overflowing with tears of agony. Her eyes themselves stung, itched, burned. Two red-hot daggers seemed to impale themselves on either side of her head simultaneously, as what felt like a blunt spear was jammed into her tailbone.

A scream of agonized torture shrieked from her lips as her body shuddered painfully at the assault on her spine. Her mouth was abruptly slammed shut, and vocal cords tightened by an overpowering instinct to keep quiet. Yukari's teeth, still clenched together, softened and reformed, her canine teeth growing larger and sharper.

A burst of pure inferno erupted from her body, igniting her into a new level of magnified agony. It was like being burnt, stabbed, crushed, ripped, torn, and shattered over and over again. She felt the pain from the daggers and spear go numb and cold, the weapons withdrawing.

The indescribable agony stopped as instantly as it had come.

The pain-broken girl shivered, skin, hair, and clothes soaking wet. What was it? Sweat, tears, blood? Yukari didn't know. All she knew what that her clothing was slicked against her tender body, squelching at each shudder she gave. But it didn't help that she felt pain with each shudder, the agony having left a piercing headache behind that seemed to cloud every thought, every memory.

"Ughn…ugh …ah-AH!…ughn…"

_Where is that voice, those…moans of pain… coming from?_ Yukari wondered dreamily, before a burning pain in her throat brought her to a slow conclusion.

That ragged voice was coming from her mouth, scraping over her own abused throat… but it wasn't her. It didn't make any sense, but it definitely wasn't her. Yet, something in her denied it was some voice her imagination had wildly created. It was too real, too familiar for her to have simply created it in her mind.

Her body suddenly felt as if someone had gently and effortlessly pulled open her spirit, exposing her soul. A slow tinkling of pure essence streamed into her with the utmost care, surging through still-tender veins that weaved everywhere in her body.

It filled her soul to the brim with power. The same power, she swiftly realized, that had caused her that horrible pain, yet it wasn't raw and angry this time…it was gentle…almost remorseful.

It was clouded, dangerous…but it seemed to hold a dark purity… It was wild, dormant, but stirring, like a long-forgotten skill. It felt as though she was intensely linked to something dangerous, something predatory, but also something recognizable to her, like it had been there all along. Like she had been waiting all her life for it.

Her golden eyes glowed in the darkness of the shade as she slit them open to peer around. With a small jolt of surprise, Yukari realized that she had much better night vision than before, her vision sharper, clearer, so she opened her eyes a crack more.

She regretted it instantly.

The numb, dull ache she had been feeling escalated into a skull splitting headache, an iron rod cracking through her temples and into her fuzzy, pain-clouded brain. But she managed to get a look around through dark lashes heavy with tears of pain.

It was raining, and she now knew why she was soaking wet. It was slightly windy, making her body quiver even more in reaction, a small breeze crawling with icy cold fingers through her limp body. Her head was lying on the flat rock she had fallen onto as if it were a pillow.

Yukari grunted slightly, and winced when the effort almost tore her throat. Then winced again because the first wince had hurt, raw nerve endings screaming at her at the abuse.

Through the haze of pain and confusion, she felt a presence approaching her. A scent carried over the breeze, and it seemed natural for her to open her mouth slightly and let it drift over the roof of her mouth to better catch the smell, though she knew that no normal human would be able to pick up a scent trail.

But, to her numb astonishment, a dry, powdery scent reached her brain, along with the scent of sweat and fire…the scent of a human being, a female.

_A dry, floury smell…wheat…a baker, probably. _Yukari deduced sleepily, hearing a startled exclamation of the woman accompanied by hurried footsteps over to her. A worried voice, asking if she was all right. Yukari cracked open an eye, ignoring the pain to give the female a sarcastic look.

_Meh, can't they ever come up with anything else to say?_ Her thought was fluttery as if she was light as a feather. She felt her eyes drift close; light-headedness took over the sensation of being feather-light and blackness seemed to prevail over her.

* * *

Kishiwa Midori was not a person that could be easily shaken. Looking at her, a woman around thirty years old, with a gentle-featured face, warm gray eyes, and easy fashion styles, she didn't look like someone who could stand up to much.

Appearances are deceiving.

Midori was actually very proficient in fighting with knives. And she didn't particularly trust her new…'guest.' For many very good reasons.

The land of **Ametsuchi** was not a very friendly place. Outcasts and missing-nin exiled from the five shinobi nations often came to **Ametsuchi** from the Land of Water, by means of trade boats. The **Ametsuchi** country's huge forests and herb-rich mountains generated most of the land's money. Therefore, the woods were teeming with dangerous exiled shinobi, bandits, and wild animals.

A girl around seventeen found unconscious by the side of a road leading to the newly-established Village Hidden in the Moon with extremely dark red hair, gold eyes, fangs, and an extremely wild feel to her has got to be cause for some suspicion. Not to mention the fact that she didn't have a hitai-ete on her, save for a few old scars and shallow cuts, yet was drenched in sweat and water. The girl's clothes were pretty damn filthy, patched up in threads of so many different colors it almost looked like needlepoint.

Which was why Midori brought the girl back to her home on her bakery cart and put her on a bed, and was currently watching the girl's unmoving face like a hawk watching a hapless rabbit.

She'd get some answers and figure out whether this girl was harmless and could be set free, or reported to the Tsukikage as a threat to the village-in-making.

* * *

Yukari's memories were fuzzy, incomplete, and indistinct. It was as if her mind was divided into two.

One side held names and information she'd never heard of before. The mind was dark and confused, but calm and seemed to be coping. Gentle security emanated from it, slowly spreading, as if to comfort in an apology of some kind.

_Like the presence she had felt coming out of the scroll._

The thought seemed to smack Yukari behind her eyes, flashing white and printing the words into her brain. As soon as it fully registered, her body seemed to come alive, heart hammering fiercely.

Giving a violent start, Yukari shot into a sitting position from the bed she was on—and she knew it was a bed; she could feel the mattress shifting under her—panting harshly, feeling the breath rasp in an apparently still-tender throat. Closing her eyes and putting a hand on her chest, Yukari pulled in deep, soothing breaths to calm her racing heart.

"Oh, my…" A soft, cautious voice came from what seemed right beside her.

The unfamiliar voice caused an entirely expected reaction.

Yukari leapt, letting out a vicious snarl that would have been more appropriate coming out of the muzzle of a rabid dog than a rather short teenage girl, golden eyes narrowed and teeth bared, the enlarged canines blatantly obvious, even in the soft candlelight of the house.

But she didn't attack the owner of the voice.

Leaping for the ceiling, Yukari clung to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling with frantic hands, deftly swinging her legs up to balance lightly on the gently swinging light.

From her vantage point on the ceiling, Yukari craned her head around to observe her mysterious savior.

The woman was around the age of thirty at the oldest, twenty-six at the youngest, dressed in a sensible dark blue work kimono with a black, loose obi and the typical work sandals of the shinobi nations, though she had the dark skin of the Ametsuchi. Cautious yet warm stormy gray eyes blinked bemusedly up at the girl clinging to her ceiling, as the woman ran a nervous hand through her long hair, which was a dark shade of green tied with a floral bandana. Her other hand expertly held a sheathed battle knife.

"Oh, dear…I didn't mean to startle you." The woman said steadily, a sincere note in her voice. Shifting slowly and carefully, the woman set the knife on the bedside table.

With her hair hanging down in ropey strands from the sweat and water still drenching her hair, Yukari stared at the woman with eerie golden eyes, measuring her up.

Until this woman earned her respect, if not her trust, Yukari would be careful. She couldn't trust anyone, just yet.

Prepared for a display of shinobi skills Midori certainly was, but that animalistic snarl knocked all doubt from her mind. Tsukigakure did not have animal-based clans, just basic shinobi. This girl was an outsider.

And she was currently on Midori's ceiling, staring down at her with the unwavering, calculating gaze of an experienced shinobi. The girl's hair obscured some of her face, but it was obvious that the girl possessed a slightly lifted lip, revealing a rather sharp canine tooth as she stared directly at Midori with a curious, but blank expression.

Nervously, Midori spread her hands in a placating gesture.

"I'm sorry for startling you. What's your name?"

No response.

"What village are you from?"

Nothing.

"…" Midori sighed and looked down in a gesture of defeat. The girl's eyes didn't hold any malice, but they didn't even flicker at the baker's questions.

"Call me Yuurei **(1)**."

Midori blinked, quickly looking up at her. The girl's voice was husky and rough, with a rasping, feral quality to it. The blank look dissolved in the girl's curious golden eyes, replaced by warm friendliness and a large amount of careful suspicion. The grip on the chandelier had loosened as well, which was a relief for Midori, as she'd had to replace it when she'd gotten batter stuck to the lights.

'_Phantom', huh? _Midori smiled and bowed. "My name is Kishiwa Midori. You're in the Moon Village, and this is my house."

She spread her arms to indicate the room and pointed out the window next to the bed. "My bakery is over there, near the main road."

'Yuurei' tilted her head, closing her eyes in contemplation as she dropped down from the ceiling, back flipping to land on her feet on the bed. She plopped down placidly and bowed her head in thanks.

Then she seemed to fall into a contemplative silence, her head bent forward so her hair shadowed her eyes. Midori slowly backed up until she was right next to the door, intending to leave the girl to her thoughts. She reached for the handle of the shoji (sliding door), but stopped as a thought stuck her. A quick glance at Yuurei's faintly spasming arm muscles solidified her conclusion. They were holding up the girl's upper body as she leant forward, but they were weakening rapidly, tiny tremors running through the muscles of her biceps.

"Would you like some green tea, maybe some onigiri?" Midori questioned softly, her hand on the lever of the door. "You look like you could use some food."

Yuurei's eyes flickered, surprised at the baker's kindness, and then slowly softened to a not so suspicious look. "That would be appreciated, uh…Midori…arigato."

Midori smiled, sliding the door opening and exiting, sliding it shut quietly behind her.

This girl didn't mean to cause any harm to her village.

* * *

As Midori left, Yukari slumped backward exhaustedly into the pillows, strength gone, before squirming uncomfortably as she felt the grime against her skin of the combination of dirt, sweat, and blood that had soaked into the cloak and loose pants she was still wearing.

_Why the hell did I ask her to call me by my nickname?! I HATE that nickname!_

Scowling slightly, Yukari forced her protesting body into a sitting position, which was surprisingly difficult; she wasn't in excruciating pain anymore, but her muscles felt like liquid lead.

She then proceeded to strip off her clothes, dumping them on the floor next to the bed. Looking over her toned, naked body, she scowled, searching her skin. It felt like there was something…odd. Yukari's eyes raked over her own body. But nothing seemed out of place.

Her breasts seemed normal, a healthy C-cup, dark flesh peaked into soft, pink nipples that were neither too big nor too small, her chest unmarked of scars. But somehow she knew there was something wrong. Glancing lower, Yukari eyed her well-muscled legs. She didn't see anything strange.

Yukari let out a soft sigh and dragged her hand down her face, but abruptly froze when her hand brushed something on her neck.

She craned her head down enough to see a strange choker. The band that went around her neck was simple black leather, and the charm hanging from it was equally simple, the symbol for Yin and Yang.

Alarmed by this new development, she curled her fingers around the warm, almost hot to the touch charm, about to yank it off her neck. As she attempted to yank, a bewildered, hurt whimper resounded from the back of her mind. Something about that whimper caused Yukari's panic to die and her fingers to slowly uncurl from the choker.

Still slightly disturbed, Yukari put it out of her mind and resolved never to touch it again.

_Hmm…might as well check my surroundings while I'm at it._ Yukari though, silently berating herself for only now doing what she should've done before anything else.

Taking a deep breath, she let her _ki_ extend, searching for any hostile _ki_, probing deeply to find anyone who was experienced enough to mask their emotions. She brushed over Midori's warm, friendly _ki_, who was in the kitchen, judging by the strengthening smell of cooking onigiri.

Yukari's stomach complained violently, rumbling out its hunger obnoxiously. She ignored it, giving the surrounding area one last sweep before settling back against the pillow, ignoring the grime still layered onto her skin with the ease of long practice.

The room was cozy, the floor covered with a soft-looking rug in sensible earth tones, and the walls painted a nice shade of creamy white with wallpaper covering the ceiling that looked like the night sky. Two small, dimmed lanterns hung around the room, one near where she laid and the other by the door. The bed was the only piece of furniture in the room other than the slightly dusty bedside table.

Yukari heard light footsteps and turned her head to the door. Midori slid the door open with her elbow and walked inside, her gray eyes tilted downward so she wouldn't spill the onigiri.

"Here's some food for you, Yuurei-san." She said satisfactorily, setting the plate of onigiri down with a clink.

"Arigato." Yukari mumbled absentmindedly, taking the plate and breaking the chopsticks cleanly in half. "Itadakimasu."

Midori smiled, but it quickly turned into an embarrassed grin as she noticed that the eating young woman was stark nude. The redhead didn't even seem aware of Midori's discomfort as she bolted the food, her breasts bouncing slightly every time her chopsticks were raised to her mouth…

"Yuurei-san! Why are you naked?!" Midori shrieked, finally unable to take it anymore after about a minute or two of silence on Yukari's part and restless fidgeting on hers. Yukari blinked up at her with confused golden eyes, resting her empty plate on her lap.

"Because I felt grimy and wanted to check for wounds." She explained simply, smiling slightly. "Why did you yell?"

"It's…it's…but—but—it…" The green-haired baker stammered a bit before finally giving up. The girl didn't seem to understand the concept of modesty.

Yukari, interest lost, leaned against the headboard lazily, scratching some grime off her skin with a fingernail. This disgusting action knocked the older woman out of her shocked stupor, realizing just how dirty the girl was. Midori's motherly instincts kicked in at the sight of a small girl barely five and a half feet tall covered with filth and looking adorably sleepy, if you totally overlooked the fact that she was seventeen.

Yukari didn't have a chance.

Midori suddenly seemed to have somehow gotten the speed of a jounin in 0.000000000½ seconds and had gained the strength of a pissed off Akimichi in the process, scooping up the shocked redhead _ki_-user and speeding through the house in a blur, before Yukari was abruptly tossed into a tub of hot water and proceeded to get a scrub down that would probably be more suited to a horse.

Yukari's sailor-worthy swearing and eventual begging for mercy went unacknowledged.

* * *

**(1) It means 'ghost' but I prefer 'phantom.'**

* * *


	4. The Departure

**Twilight: Hi all!**

**Kage: Hello.**

**Twilight: Well, sorry I'm late with this chapter…there was a problem with one of my video games…and now I've got to do the entire game over…it's more tedious than Shadow of the Colossus…**

**Kage: Oi, I liked that game.**

**Twilight: Only because you were contemplating what the giant horse tasted like.**

**Kage: …No I wasn't. It would only taste like rocks and dirt anyway.**

**Twilight: And you know this how if you weren't thinking about what it tasted like?**

**Kage: …Ok, that wasn't fair.**

**Twilight: I've cared about being fair, when?**

**Kage: …Bitch.**

**Twilight: Ok, well, here's the part where the story starts to veer towards traveling to Suna. Don't worry, she'll meet Gaara…just not in the way you might think.**

**Kage: I don't like the sound of that.**

**Twilight: Tough. Oh, and there's an awesome story that I find great enjoyment in reading called Joker and the Thief by T. W. Patchwork. She's going to discontinue it soon, and I've been kind of depressed.**

**Kage: KIND OF depressed?! You moped around being bitchy for three days!**

**Twilight: Well…maybe 'kind of' was an understatement.**

**Kage: Naw, you think?!**

**Twilight: Well, point is, I want to try and figure out why she wants her story to be discontinued, and so my updating might be put on hold…again.**

**Kage: …You utterly fail at life.**

**Twilight: I know. -.-'**

* * *

Chapter 4: The Departure

* * *

"Bye, Midori! Thanks for the map!" Yukari called cheerfully, but a slight hint of annoyance tinted her smile as she felt the skin of her cheeks stinging in the cool early morning air, scrubbed raw red and smelling strongly of jasmine. Her nose twitched at the strong smell, and she grimaced a little as the fumes completely clouded her sense of smell.

_Oh, how I __**loathe**__ soap…_

"Good bye, Yuurei-chan! Good luck on your journey!" Midori called, gray eyes sparkling as she waved to Yukari's back, who glanced back down the road at the figure of the green-haired baker that had scrubbed her unmercifully less than three hours before, giving one last wave.

Yukari walked down the well-traveled road among the early-risers in the village, attracting less curious stares than usual, despite her noticeable golden eyes, thanks to the facts that most people out on the road were still half-asleep, and that Midori had miraculously managed to go shopping during the fifteen minutes that Yukari was trying to recover from her torture…I mean bath…and buy some new _karinginu _(classic samurai hunting shirt), light traveling _gi_ (karate shirt), and _hakama_ (pants) for Yukari that weren't bloodstained.

Or stitched up so much they looked like a patchwork quilt.

Yukari found it odd that Midori seemed to know her exact size.

In addition to the shirt and pants, Midori also had scrounged up some newly-imported shinobi gloves, a small but hardy traveling backpack, and a kunai pouch with 10 kunai in it ("Sorry, Yuurei-chan, that's all that I could get without going over my budget.").

Midori had also been about to offer Yukari a pair of standard shinobi sandals, but after eyeing the calloused state of Yukari's soles, she decided not to bother.

Yukari spent another hour exploring the Moon village and began scrounging around for odd jobs to afford a ticket to the Land of Water, but after only earning about 800 _ryo_ out of the 1,500 needed Yukari gave in to the urge to do what she always did when she needed something and couldn't get it otherwise: Steal.

So it was with a slightly guilty conscience that Yukari pickpocketed several unsuspecting civilians and two Tsuki chuunin at about 200 _ryo_ per person. She brushed off the guilt easily enough, consoling herself as always to the fact that she didn't pickpocket anyone that appeared poor or elderly and that no one was hurt, psychologically or physically.

Pickpocketing those chuunin also gave her confirmation on whom she could sneak past and whom she couldn't. The few jounin she attempted to approach silently without resorting to any _ki_ techniques seemed to sense her within about ten feet, while the chuunin didn't seem to notice at all.

For a newly-established shinobi village in a land that had previously only been inhabited by _ki_ users and samurai,

Midori had provided food and water provisions, along with a spare first aid kit and a map of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and the countries around them. The last hour Yukari had spent perfecting her physical disguise.

When Midori had walked in on Yukari, she had been amused.

* * *

_**Flashback:**_

"_Yuurei-chan, what are you doing?" Midori asked in a light tone filled with badly hidden laughter, finding Yukari bent over, seeming to be in a struggle with a black piece of fabric._

_Yukari blinked awkwardly from under the ratty black cap she had dug up from somewhere and was attempting to stuff the length of tangled mess that was unfortunately her hair into it._

"_Trying to stuff my hair into this hat." She answered bluntly, resuming her struggle with her hair after briefly glancing up at the baker._

_Midori smiled slightly and walked to Yukari's side, snatching the raggedy hat from the young woman's hands. Yukari looked up with an annoyed grunt, allowing Midori to see what had been hidden when Yukari was wrestling with the cap._

_Yukari had bound her chest as tightly as she could without constricting her movements and allowing her to breathe. She had also donned one of the baggier, long-sleeved _gi_ and tied it with a simple gray _obi_, along with a loose, baggy pair of _hakama_. She had used bandages to bind the loose fabric to her legs to make she didn't trip on it or get it snagged on something._

_Intrigued, the baker handed the hat back to the girl, who crammed it on her head and began tucking in the strands that remained exposed. Yukari tucked in all of the strands but her signature lock of hair between her eyes and a few flyaway wisps to make it look natural._

_When the young woman glanced up at Midori for evaluation, Yukari was gone, and in her place was a skinny boy with large golden eyes gleaming in a dark face. As the baker stared, a grin filled with startlingly white teeth was flashed in her direction._

"_Yuurei-chan…" Midori murmured, in admiration. "I can barely tell that you're a girl…but…" She paused as a thought hit her._

"_What are you going to do about your voice?" _

_Yukari's voice was unusually husky for a female, but it had a feminine tone that rendered her voice solidly female. There was no way it could be mistaken for a man's._

_The 'boy' smirked._

"_Hi, my name is Hisoka_ **(1)**_." A deeper, raspier version of Yukari's voice rumbled from 'his' mouth. A simple trick every thief worth his salt had to learn, but nevertheless; it was enough to make the baker's jaw drop._

_**End Flashback**_

* * *

Yukari let out a long sigh, missing the green-haired baker already. Despite her overly maternal gestures, she would miss Midori, and knew that the life of a wanderer was much too perilous to assure that she would ever see the gray-eyed baker again. Yukari had wanted to start traveling before becoming attached, which was something she easily did, whether she decided to or not.

Hell, she even missed the bad-tempered onbaa duo back with Keiji's caravans. And those damn things had put her in the healer's tent!

Heaving another sigh, Yukari glanced up to check her location, only to stop short. She stared in surprise as she realized how far she'd gotten while deep in her own reminiscing.

She'd gone right through the marketplace of Tsukigakure and the docks were barely a quarter of a mile away. She could easily see over the forest-covered hills that made up most of Ametsuchi's geography, to the long stretch of water that was the sea.

The beach was absolutely crammed with relaxing civilians, warriors, shinobi, and sailors. The general murmur of noise was absolutely overwhelming. The docks were loading the supplies into the large metal trading ships. Yukari stared up at these ships in awe; they were huge metal monsters with tall spires that belched white steam in giant clouds **(2)**.

The land of Ametsuchi didn't have a lot of trees father inland, but it made up for the shortage in lumber in rock, mineral, jewel quarries and mines. Titanium was fairly common, but expensive because its difficulty to work with for common blacksmiths. All in all, the economy was stable. Yukari just hoped it was stable enough for the security to have eased up a bit.

Spotting a large and professional looking building with a large sign that declared in bold, fancy script, 'Administration Office,' Yukari pulled her wad of _ryo_ from her _hakama_'s baggy pocket and cautiously approached the building, putting on a show of looking nervous for anyone suspicious nearby that might recognize her.

She was mostly on guard for anyone from Keiji's caravans. She'd left them behind since Keiji had betrayed her and sent her on a suicide mission, but she knew that she was far too valuable a prize for someone as greedy and coldly ambitious as Keiji to be let go without a fight. She knew after serving under him for so many years, that he would come for her eventually. And she would have to fight to remain free of him. She didn't need him to survive.

She couldn't wait to land a punch on the bastard for sending her on a suicide mission, though…

Gently pushing the door open, Yukari stepped inside the administration building. A bell, fixed above the door to ring whenever someone opened the entrance, let out a loud clang as she allowed the heavy metal door to swing shut.

The heavyset, balding man behind the counter looked to be in his late thirties or early forties. He sat hunched over a large pile of paperwork that Yukari assumed to be shipping records, working away at a frantic pace, a faint dew of perspiration misting over his dark-skinned forehead. Yukari walked quietly up to the desk, playing the role of a meek, unsure young man.

"Excuse me, sir…" She quavered out, the question as quiet as she could make it while using her 'male' voice.

The man paused in his work, looked up briefly for a moment, revealing wide, watery eyes that were a hazy blue in color, and then went back to scribbling on the scroll of shipping supplies he appeared to be working on. As if encouraged by the man's silence, Yukari prodded further, still playing her disguised persona.

"I…I was wondering…when will the next ship be leaving for the Water Country? I'd like to get a ticket…"

At this, the man let out a heavy sigh that sounded like a puff of air whooshing from a blacksmith's bellows, and put down his pen, giving Yukari's disguise a good once-over for the first time. Shifting sluggishly in his seat, the man put one elbow on the counter and leaned his cheek on it, giving 'Hisoka' a flat look from one dull blue eye.

"Look, kid." The guy let out exasperatedly. "The ship bound for Kiri's on Dock 108, and it's gonna leave in fifteen minutes. I'm not gonna waste my time to give some underage punk a ticket for a ship that he's not allowed on anyway—" The man's tone suddenly turned spiteful, contemptuous—"Because it's a _trading_ ship. No runty stowaways allowed."

She instantly didn't like this man; he had the seedy look of a political manipulator who enjoyed causing other people pain when his day was going crappy, because his sluttish, over-paid maids didn't put enough sugar in his coffee. His voice was rather high, a whiney pitch that made Yukari want to punch him. But she gritted her teeth and bowed her head, schooling her features into a look of disappointed acceptance.

"Oh…ok, sir. Gomen for wasting your time…" She mumbled, turning to leave.

Pushing the door open, the bell resounded with a mournful 'ding,' as if sharing 'Hisoka's' gloominess. She caught the man's cruel smirk as she exited, and resisted the urge to throw a knife into his sweaty, ugly face. But suddenly she grinned instead, a crooked smirk spreading across her face. A sharpened tooth poked out one side of her mouth, pricking her lower lip slightly **(3)**.

So she wasn't allowed on with a ticket, eh?

No problem; at least, not for a thief.

* * *

"…Why, oh why did I have to hide _here_, out of all the possible ships I could have picked?" A certain gold-eyed thief growled crossly to no one in particular, wincing when her cramped pose made her chest bindings tighten slightly, restricting her breathing even more.

Yukari shifted painfully from her position, jammed uncomfortably between two large wooden crates in the cargo hold. The hold itself was large and spacious, but it was _crammed_ with sailing supplies, goods from Tsuki, and so on covering practically every square inch.

There were also a lot of other things Yukari wasn't exactly pleased with about her selected hiding place.

One: it was cold.

Two: the sounds of the waves slapping violently against the sides of the ship made Yukari feel as if the vessel was going to sink any second in a dramatic, small-scale version of the Titanic.

Whatever the hell a _Titanic_ was…

Three: she could hear the sounds of the crew working in the upper decks above her, and whenever footsteps echoed from directly above, (which was about every fifteen seconds) she felt like she was going to be discovered.

She didn't think that they'd be inclined to be very understanding to her situation if they found her. More than likely, she'd be thrown in a filthy civilian jail that would take her about three hours to break out of with considerable noise and chaos.

And finally, and most important, four: there were a group of other stowaways hidden somewhere in the spacious cargo hold.

And they definitely weren't intending on simply waiting to get to the Land of Water.

These ten-plus men were brutal outlaws who specialized in hijacking ships.

And now Yukari was stuck on a ship with them out in the middle of the open ocean with absolutely nowhere to run and no high-quality places to hide. It was only a matter of time before they made their move to capture the ship.

She couldn't warn the crew; sailors were naturally suspicious and there was no way she could get them to trust her in time. Yukari's stomach clenched slightly as she realized how many of these brave sailors would die, whether they fought or not.

The cargo ship would be commandeered by a group of thugs and taken to Kami-knows-where.

And she was going to be dragged along for the ride.

* * *

**(1) It means 'secretive'.**

**(2) A paddle steamer, for any of you sailing fanatics.**

**(3) Think Midna from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Her smirk.**

* * *


	5. Oh nooooooo

**ATTENTION. I'VE BEEN GROUNDED FOR THREE MONTHS. DO NOT REVIEW THIS CHAPTER, TO NOT PM ME. I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CHECK MY INBOX FOR AT LEAST 6 WEEKS. I'M SORRY.**


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